Translator and interpreter needed
I confess that don’t understand this post at all, although I assume it’s a discussion about the wording of his church brochure. But in particular I don’t understand the point about the translation of “community of peoples”. As far as I can see, in the context in which this phrase is used at Genesis 48:4 (also Gen 28:3 and Gen 35:11) it is particularly related to Jacob’s calling, and has to mean something more like “an assembly of tribes” and is about the unity of Israel. I fail to see why “community” is a better translation of qahal than most of the other alternatives. The only translation that seems to me to be completely wrong is HCSB “I will make many nations come from you”. I have no idea whether the Hebrew can be made to mean that, but it seems highly inappropriate in the context.
April 12th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
It’s almost as if we stumbled on an email reply, not a blog post. Personally, I would support a translation that says, “I will make you a church…,” and in the cross references refer to Matthew 16:18.